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Fela! Original Broadway Cast Recording about a Legendary African Civil Rights Activist to Be Released on June 8, Pre-Order Available April 20

Knitting Factory Records will release the original Broadway cast recording of Fela! on June 8, with pre-order available on April 20 at www.felaonbroadway.com. The musical is the story of legendary Nigerian musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, who defied an oppressive military government and devoted his life to the civil rights struggle for freedom and human dignity.

Here is some info from the press release:

Fela! – Original Broadway Cast Recording features the incomparable Sahr Ngaujah as Fela singing with members of the irrepressibly funky Antibalas. A version featuring Kevin Mambo will be available for download and for sale at the theater. All 16 of the Fela compositions that are peformed on stage each night, leaving sold-out audiences astonished and breathless at the end of every show, are on the record as are several songs peformed by Funmalayo (Fela’s mother) as played by the Tony-award winning Lilias White, and Sandra Izadore (Fela’s American girlfriend) as played by Saycon Sengbloh. The record was produced by the Grammy-nominated Robert Sher.

According to the show’s producer Stephen Hendel

There are three great bands in the world that can capture this music with the thrill and intensity of Fela Kuti himself: Femi and Seun Kuti live and play in Nigeria and tour around the world; members of Antibalas live in Brooklyn. We are priviliged to have these members on our stage every night, bringing this music to a world that has, to a large extent, only recently understood what they’ve been missing.

The musical is directed and choreographed by Tony® Award winner Bill T. Jones, with arrangements by Aaron Johnson and Jordan McLean. Sean “Jay-Z” Carter and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith are among the producers.

Check out the musical in this video:

The tracklisting for Fela! – Original Broadway Cast Recording is as follows: